NCJ Number
115557
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1989) Pages: 48-50
Editor(s)
D Rogers
Date Published
1989
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Since bringing all of its computer operations in-house with microcomputers, the Denver Department of Safety has eliminated costly mainframe access charges and software maintenance fees and has enhanced jail and inmate management computer applications.
Abstract
Chief among the applications on the network is the prisoner tracking and jail management program. Prisoner information is entered in approximately 40 data base tables containing 20-25 data fields each. Information includes the prisoner's name, physical characteristics, medical information, property confiscated, psychological characteristics, criminal record, current charges, and the bail amount. The network also facilitates the transfer of inmates between city and county jails. Because the data base's SQL programming language has an English-like interface, deputies can tailor their own applications without having to learn any of the traditional programming languages. Consequently, officers can handle various data base searches, such as finding the number and location of vacant jail cells and identifying those that need repair or plumbing work. By splitting the processing of jail records between two supermicrocomputers, system overhead has been reduced and processing speed has increased.